


Never Going to Give You Up

by AnneMcSommers



Series: Fix It Arc [4]
Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Possession, Queliot Week, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29231115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnneMcSommers/pseuds/AnneMcSommers
Summary: Day 6: So We're Just Giving Up?Eliot was going to do whatever it took to get Q back, even if it meant making a deal with a Dragon.
Relationships: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Series: Fix It Arc [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024135
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	Never Going to Give You Up

Eliot eventually wandered back in from the fire, flinching at the sight of the once beloved cottage interior. Months trapped in his happy place had ruined the association. He wasn’t sure what it would be now, but Eliot was sure if the experience were to repeat its self then this would no longer be a happy place for him. 

He went straight upstairs, flinching with each step, and collapsed on the bed fully clothed. He didn't think he would be able to sleep, but the next thing he knew he was awakening to bright light in his face and the smell of cooked eggs wafting up from the downstairs. 

Any other time Eliot would have taken a shower and gotten himself suited up for the day, but he couldn't manage to get the buttons undone, his hands were shaking too badly. While the stomach would would heal, the nerve damage to his extremities would likely not. Months of nutritional deficiencies caused by too much alcohol and not enough food when his body was not in his possession had damaged it, possibly beyond repair. Only time would tell. 

Eliot stumbled down the stairs, flinching in response to the startled reaction of the others around the table. They were afraid of him. No, they were afraid of the monster that had worn his face, but it felt like the same thing. He staggered over to the table, keeping his eyes downward cast and managed to eat some eggs without tasting them. 

Everything tasted like cardboard now, and he was afraid to ask Lipson if it was permanent, if this was just another thing that the monster had done to him, or if it was just grief. It was awkwardly silent, and Eliot fled the table for the shower wordlessly. 

He pulled his clothes off over his head wincing at the sound of the buttons popping off, but he wasn’t about to call anyone in to help. The shower was long and hot, and though the last thing he wanted to do was spend time on his hair, the terror of his un-groomed appearance in the eyes of the others made him take the time to run enough product through it to make it look somewhat presentable. The same went in dressing, where t-shirts were apparently a no-no now, and he pulled a fitted sweater over his head, and cringed at how loose it had become. 

He stood staring at himself in the mirror, what now. He turned on the radio, one of the few electronics that seemed to work at Brakebills and everything spun on his axis. The song was Talk by Hozier and they sang about Orpheus and Eurydice, about him going to the underworld for her. It rang a bell, and though Eliot was sure he remembered it had a tragic ending, it struck something in him. He could bring Q back. He barely remembered his cane as he headed out, determined now, towards the one place on campus he had spent almost no time in, the library.

It was where Margo found him hours later. Frustrated and surrounded by books. One of them had to work, most were too complex, or required too much magic, or the price, well it wasn’t worth it. But he knew the answer was here. Margo flipped through the books as she spoke to him, leaning against the table.

“I was going to ask you to head back to Fillory with me, to help me get my Kingdom back, but you aren’t coming, are you?”

He finally looked up at her, pained. “I’m sorry Bambi, I can’t. I,” Margo cut him off.

“You what El. He’s gone, Q’s gone, I know he was your friend, he was my friend too. But half-ass resurrection magic. Really? When in the history of ever has this shit been the answer?”

“So we’re just giving up? Letting him sacrifice himself for everyone else and then wiping our hands of it. I just, I can’t”

“Its not your fault El, I”

“Yes, it is.” Eliot stated in a monotone.

“The monster,” Started defensive.

“Not the monster, I mean, ya, I fucked up shooting it, but that’s not. I, I need him back Bambi, its my fault.” Eliot faltered.

“Explain it to me then.” And he did, the quest, the mosaic, his rejection, the monster, the happy place, all of it.

“Well Fuck.” Margo said when he finished, collapsing in a chair beside him “So, what have you found so far?” And Elliot smiled. 

It took 3 weeks, and in those three weeks just about everyone tried to talk him out of it. Julia was furious at the idea of not letting Q rest, not letting him get his peaceful hereafter. Penny23 dropped by and spent a day describing the horror that occurred when the Alice in his world had gone down this route, how Q had come back shadeless and killed everyone. He too was angry that Eliot wouldn't let it go. 

Alice dropped by, and offered to help, but he couldn't even look at her, the rest may have forgiven her, but he couldn’t.. Then there was Kady, god, even Fogg came by and gave him a lecture on responsible casting, citing the incident with Gerald during the cancer curing endeavor.

But Eliot kept going, and Margo helped in her way. She wasn’t one for research, but she did bring him food, and encouragement. News of the outside world, and from time to time dropped hints about Fillory, as if she could trick him into going back. It wasn't that easy though, and after three weeks, when he was on the edge of desperate, he found it, Dragons. Dragons could take you to the underworld. 

When he told the others Julia looked…guilty. And when she told him of how she and Quentin had retrieved her shade, he was furious. She had known how to get there all along, but had refused to tell him because she felt that Quentin should be able to rest in peace. He let it go, for now at least, he had to see a Dragon about an offering.

“You wish to travel to the underworld, but not die?” She asked sounding amused.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I lost someone.” 

“Many have lost someone, but not all seek to cross the threshold. Tell me why, why I should do this for you?” She drawled sounding bored. Eliot should have been afraid, but he was too desperate to think that far ahead.

“I will get you anything, anything you want.” She cut him off.

“I know, but that doesn’t answer my question, why do you wish to do this? What makes him so special?” 

“He was my everything. I lived a lifetime with him and it wasn't enough. When I had to chance to do it again I was a coward, I pushed him away, and still he gave everything to save me, and he died never having gotten a chance to have someone do that for him, to show how much they love him. If one of us had to die, it shouldn't have been him, he was the better person.” Elliot stopped, unsure how to continue.

“He was perfect? Your true love?”

“My true love, yes, but he wasn’t perfect. God, he was clinically depressed, and he could be such a little bitch sometimes. He was a nerd, and a book snob, he couldn't cook to save his life, he held a grudge like no one else, and he never believed he was good enough. He thought he broke things, but, but he fixed things, and when he laughed it was like the sun was shining just for me, and he loved books, and our son, and he loved me, even though I was 50 kinds of fucked. And I loved him.” Eliot's voice broke and he gasped for breath, stomach wounds in agony from the frantic breathing.

“You loved him, for him.” The Dragon finished. 

Eliot nodded, unable to speak. The Dragon nodded. “You passed.”

And before Eliot could ask what he had passed a door formed in front of him.

“I go through here, and I am in the underworld?” He asked.

“No, you don't go through, you just unlock it.” She didn't explain anymore.

“And that will take me to Q?” He prompted.

“It may.” And when she said nothing else, Eliot was afraid to ask what would happen if it didn't. But he hadn't come this far to cock out now. He was going to be brave. 

He stepped forward and unlocked the door. And nothing happened, and he stepped back, disappointed. He stared, and just when he was about to leave, the door knob started to turn. And the door swung out slowly, and then as if by magic out stepped Quentin.

He looked, like shit, but when he met Eliot's eye Quentin smiled. “I knew it would be you.”

Eliot just stared, and after a beat he replied a little late. “I love you.”

Quentin’s smile got even bigger. “I know.”

Eliot was smiling so wide that his face hurt, and he choked on a laugh. “Did you just Han Solo me? You nerd.” He stepped forward and took Quintin's face in his hands. 

“Well you got the reference so,” Eliot cut him off by kissing him. And they continued until a cough from the east river dragon interrupted them.

Eliot flinched back, but kept a firm grip on Quentin. “What do I owe you?” He asked his voice shaky.

“Well usually I would ask for something precious, but I think in this case the floor show sufficed.” Quentin groaned with embarrassment, and buried his face in Elliot's coat.

“Well then, I hope you enjoyed the show. If you would just excuse us, we would like to continue this elsewhere.” Eliot said, taking a backwards step still clutching Quentin.

“Somewhere with a bed I presume,” The dragon quipped back, and Quentin was shaking with repressed laughter into Eliot's lapel.

“Yes Ma’am,” He replied and left dragging Quentin with him before they got eaten for laughing at a dragon.

It took two subways and train ride to get back to the portal to Brakebills, but stepping through the door to the cottage didn't feel like stepping into prison this time, because Quentin was by his side holding his hand. He didn't know what came next, but whatever it was, it would be okay as long as they were together.


End file.
